200 COXTRIBUTOKS TO THE TIUST SEKIKS OF "^THK IBIs/ 



His first paper, on the Birds of Cookliam and the neigh- 

 bourhood, appeared in the Journal of the High Wycombe 

 Natural History Society, and his collection of specimens, 

 made at this time, is in the Natural History Museum. 



At last the old gentleman, who was like Gallio and cared 

 for none of these things, looked upon his son as good-for- 

 nothing, and sent him to London — not with the proverbial 

 shilling, but with a sovereign and a letter, which gained him 

 an immediate situation at Messrs. Smith and Sons, by whom 

 he was always treated most kindly and his natural history 

 tastes encouraged. He afterwards entered the service of the 

 late Mr. Bernard Quaritch, who remained, throughout his 

 life, a most kind and generous friend. 



The Library of the Zoological Society having at this time 

 increased, to large proportions, it was determined l)y the 

 Council to appoint a Librarian, and on the recommendation 

 of the late Osbert Salvin and Dr. P. L. Sclater, the post 

 •was offered to Sharpe, and accepted by him. By this time 

 •he had commenced his first ornithological work, the " Mono- 

 graph of the Kingfishers,' and, owing to the advantages of the 

 Zoological Society^'s Library, he soon finished this book and 

 ■commenced (with Mr. H. E. Dresser) the 'Birds of Europe.' 

 In May 1872, George Robert Gray died, and Sharpe was 

 appointed to succeed him at the British Museum and take 

 charge of the Bird Collection. He entered on his duties on 

 the 1 1th of September of that year. To write the ' Catalogue 

 of Birds,^ he was forced to give up the 'Birds of Europe/ 

 which was completed by Mr. Dresser. Of the ' Catalogue of 

 ]3irds ' he has written with his own pen thirteen and a half 

 out of the twenty-seven volumes, most of the work being 

 done in his un-officiai time. One of his most important con- 

 tributions to Ornithological Science has been the 'History 

 of the Bird-Collections in the British Museum,^ a history 

 Avliich occupied two years of his private time to write. 



In 1891 he Avas created an LL.D. of the University of 

 Aberdeen, and in the same year received by an Imperial 

 Decree the great Gold Medal for Science from H.I.M. The 

 Emperor of Austria, the highest award for Science given by 



